Arlene Smith, pioneering Chantels co-founder and voice behind ‘Maybe,’ dies at 84

The singer-songwriter, whose 1957 hit “Maybe” helped pave the way for generations of Black girl groups, died in New York, according to reports.

Arlene Smith, the pioneering singer-songwriter who co-founded the influential R&B group The Chantels and helped lay the foundation for generations of Black girl groups, has died. She was 84.

Smith died of natural causes on July 29 in New York City, according to her friend Matt Beckoff, who confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter. 

A native of the Bronx, Smith formed The Chantels alongside classmates Sonia Goring Wilson, Renée Minus White, Jackie Landry Jackson and Lois Harris while attending St. Anthony of Padua School. The group signed with End Records in 1957 and quickly became one of the first Black female vocal groups to break into the mainstream.

Smith wrote the group’s debut single, “He’s Gone,” but it was “Maybe” that cemented The Chantels’ place in music history. Featuring Smith’s soaring lead vocals, the song climbed to No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold more than a million copies and has since been recognized as one of the greatest songs of all time.

Reflecting on the group’s groundbreaking success, Smith once told ClassicBands.com, “We were the first ones [to find success as a girl group]. They didn’t know what to do with us.” She added, “The lesson to be learned from that is, to have a successful product out, you have to be unique.” The quote was highlighted in PEOPLE’s remembrance of the singer.

After leaving The Chantels in 1959, Smith pursued a solo career before studying at the Juilliard School of Music. She later became an elementary school music teacher in New York while continuing to perform and eventually reunited with a reformed version of The Chantels in the 1970s.

The Chantels were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002, where Smith’s songwriting was credited as a defining part of the group’s legacy. At a time when few Black women were writing their own material, Smith helped reshape the sound of popular music and opened the door for iconic acts that followed, including The Shirelles, The Ronettes and The Crystals.